InnovationFlow product capability
Workspace Incoming
Bring approved content from another workspace into your tools, with reviewed or automatic updates and visible source history.
Beginner-friendly guide · 4 min read
What Workspace Incoming does
Bring approved content from another workspace into your tools, with reviewed or automatic updates and visible source history.
Workspace Incoming is the receiving end of a publication. It shows content explicitly shared with this workspace, not every item the user might be able to access elsewhere.
Reviewed mode keeps the accepted version until you choose a newer one. Automatic mode accepts source updates in the background. Connected tools still use their normal review workflow, so an automatic receipt is not the same as unconditional acceptance everywhere.
This is an InnovationFlow collaboration capability. The cited toolkit research explains the wider value of coherent information handoffs; the update and permission rules described here are product behaviour.[1]
This guide describes the role of the capability in a governed strategy process. It does not present the software feature as a named academic method.
An accepted publication feeds the normal strategy flow. Local downstream review remains in place.
- 1Approved publication→
- 2Review or automatic receipt→
- 3Accepted version→
- 4Downstream review→
- 5Local roadmap
Original InnovationFlow illustration. Example values and software behaviour are explained in this guide; method sources are listed below.
Understand the method
The parts in plain language
Source identity
Accepted items retain their original identity and record the publication version.
Illustrative example
Use lineage to see where a corporate driver came from.
Update mode
Choose whether the receiving workspace reviews each version.
Illustrative example
Use reviewed mode for a decision workshop that needs a stable evidence set.
Withdrawal
A source withdrawal is visible rather than silently deleting accepted work.
Illustrative example
Review the affected planning assumptions when a priority is withdrawn.
When to use it
- When team planning depends on corporate or another team context.
- When the receiving facilitator should not need membership of the source workspace.
A practical workflow
- 1
Ask the source facilitator to approve this workspace in Workspace Outgoing.
- 2
Add Workspace Incoming and connect to an offered publication.
- 3
Choose Review before applying or Apply automatically.
- 4
Connect Incoming to a roadmap or other tools and handle their normal incoming review.
Fictional worked example
Keeping a team roadmap aligned
This example is illustrative rather than a reported case. An illustrative handoff from corporate planning to pump technology planning.
Observation:The team selects the service-priorities publication.
Implication:Check the source and purpose before accepting.
Observation:A new version tightens the service requirement.
Implication:Inspect the changed item and its source history.
Observation:The accepted item reaches the team roadmap incoming queue.
Implication:Make the local planning decision without recreating the item.
From analysis to decision
How to interpret the result
- 1Use separate Incoming tools when distinct publications need different review choices.
- 2Check source labels and lineage before combining similar-looking items.
Practical interpretation guidance from InnovationFlow. Refer to the method sources below for the underlying approach.
What a useful output looks like
Common pitfalls
- Automatic receipt does not silently bypass downstream review or local decisions.
- Withdrawn or disconnected content remains with a visible status.
- Do not assume a received item can be republished freely; onward publication requires the original publisher.
References and method basis
- [1]Phaal, R., Kerr, C., Oughton, D. and Probert, D.R. (2012). Towards a modular toolkit for strategic technology management. International Journal of Technology Intelligence and Planning, 8(2), 161-181. Source ↗Peer-reviewed research
This guide synthesises the named sources into practical questions for strategy and innovation work. It does not claim that using a tool by itself produces a successful decision.